You know how every child grows up listening to stories of parents getting into scrapes or doing crazy things and then children grow up with those stories in their heads, thinking of them as a benchmark of trouble to get in to?
Well, my mom used to ride motorcyles.
Those funny little mopeds they had back in the seventies. My mom was a young college graduate when she borrowed her brother’s bike one day and rode it near her locality where she lived in Karachi. It was a little borough in PECHS and she told me only a few of her friends did it. “But mere toh bilkul larkon walay shoq thay!” (I liked doing the things boys did!) she told me with a rueful laugh.
Riding a motorcyle was simply something boys did, it was implied, accepted and seen. Even back then, it wasn’t a norm. It sounds so dark-agey, doesn’t it? The way you see in old medieval movies how the woman who decides to ride a horse is suddenly seen as a visionary. And then there were motorcycles.
What is it with these abstract, obtuse, obscure rules society makes for women and then chastises them to death if they refuse to follow it? What does gender have to do with a motor vehicle? It’s simply about using a machine to get from point A to point B - mopeds/bikes are cheap and easy ways for men and women to do that. Yet somehow riding a bike is ‘unwomanly’ or ‘immoral for women’.
Even back in the day, recalls my mother, women didn’t want to try riding a bike. Today, post-Zia and the Al-Huda generation of women that restrict the female identity to a mere shadow, the idea of women riding motorbikes is not only revolutionary but a massive show of progress. You get to hear of fantastic tales here and there where women have decided to take the leap and have the courage to challenge the stereotype. (Read the story of Nighat and Zenith here.) Pervez Hoodbhoy also asked this question once, insisting that there are egalitarian reasons for women riding motorcycles despite the Talibanization of society. But it’s not easy. The ride is an uphill one. The story of Tayyaba tells us how difficult it is to become a motorcycle rider, even if you decide to become one. It seems it’s difficult to do anything in this country, if you’re a woman. Drive a cab, a truck, file a complaint regarding rape, go to the police to report domestic abuse or even do something as simple as try to work in peace.
That is why it is incredibly important for governments and people in power to bring forth initiatives that are both encouraging and groundbreaking. One such plan has been set in motion by the Punjab government, known as Women on Wheels. Having begun since November last year, this program has currently involved 150 women to learn how to ride motorbikes. Women tell details of how difficult it is for them to use public transport sometimes, owing the harassment and long commutes they need to take just for simple chores or everyday work. The program is for women from all walks of life whether they are students or professionals or housewives. The program also includes an app which can even alert harassment complaints to the nearest traffic warden. On January 10, the program will celebrate their learning into a rally in Lahore and the program will extend to Sargodha and Multan, which are relatively smaller cities compared to Lahore.
It would be wonderful to see women riding motorbikes on the roads. If they can drive cars and walk on the roads, travel in buses, if they can sit behind on a bike, why not drive them? A big part of a successful and economically sound society is where women are as visible in all walks of life as possible. Affording them this ability would not only equip them to have one more ease in their everyday lives but also empower them in their own right.